It was only a few months ago that we informed you of a really heavy duty electric truck undergoing testing at the Port of Los Angeles. The Nautilus E30 from Balqon must have aced its audition because the company has just officially shown it off to the public at last week's CAPCOA Green Conference and Expo and announced its upcoming commercialization. There are orders for more of the behemoths from the Port of Los Angeles as well as from the AQMD. Union Pacific will incorporate the vehicle into its electric truck pilot program at the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility that it operates outside of the ports at Los Angeles and Long Beach. Balqon is so bullish on the future that they are moving their production facilities to Harbor City, California where they can produce up to 1,000 units a year.

The E30 retails for $208,500 and should, over 10 years, save about $400,000 in fuel while not emitting diesel smoke or a lot of noise and could help its California customers cope with stricter air pollution control programs. The truck can pull 60,0000 pounds and has a range between 30 and 60 miles. Though its customers can charge the lead acid batteries to 60 percent in one hour and completely full in 4 to 6 hours with an available fast-charging system, the batteries can also be swapped out in minutes. Bonus video of the E30 prototype going through its paces earlier this year as well as a press release after the jump.

[Source Balqon / Cunningham Report]

The recent lifting of the low speed vehicle (LSV) ban in Quebec has shone the light of discovery on another electric vehicle manufacturer getting ready to go gangbusters. In Ste.-Therese, Quebec, very close to where the Chevrolet Camaro plant was once located, sits the home of Nemo. Locally designed and manufactured, their vehicle, the Must HD2 has garnered interest from 50 municipalities within "La Belle Province" as well as from individuals. Company president, Jacques Rancourt, says they've sold 15 trucks in the past week and a half since their legal status changed and now expects to move 500 units this year.

The Must HD2 sells for around $20,000, is built on an aluminum chassis and can handle a 1,000 lb payload. Being an LSV, it's limited to 25 miles an hour but has a 70 mile range. Since it's made in the North, it does has a robust heater and many options ranging from lithium ion batteries to an AM/FM radio with CD player. We think it's a pretty cool looking truck, seemingly capable of handling a range of chores and so we wish the makers of this little brute, "Bonne chance!".


[Source: Nemo / Canada.com]

Way back in January, rumors began swirling regarding a potential tie-up between Chrysler's GEM and India's Tata Motors. The rumored love-child was an electric version of the delivery truck known in India as the Tata Ace. Now, we have a potential price for the unit, and it sounds almost too good to be true. According to Auto Observer, the electric Ace could sell for as little as $5,000 and would meet all necessary safety regulations in the United States. We'd imagine that this vehicle would be classified as a NEV, which would limit it to twenty-five miles per hour and operation on streets with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less.

No details are available regarding what kind of batteries or range are available. We can see a small delivery vehicle which uses no gasoline going over rather well in dense urban areas. Sales possibilities exist in both the U.S. market as well as in India.

[Source: Auto Observer]

The electric truck industry in the UK appears to be going into overdrive! Modec continues to land new accounts with their uniquely-engineered vehicle while over at Smith EV, they are celebrating a purchase order from their client, TNT, for 100 of their 7.5 ton Newton lorry (pictured above). The sale marks a significant continuation of their corporate relationship as the express delivery giant had already placed an order for 50 vehicles last year. This additional complement to their EV fleet will replace an equal number of diesel vehicles and is expected to reduce the company's emissions by 1.3 million kg of CO₂, not to mention the elimination of all the other nasties that come out of a diesel truck's tailpipe. Though these "clean lorries" only make up a small part of TNT's total fleet of 45,000 vehicles, it is a strong start in a positive direction.

The Newtons on order are powered by four large sodium nickel chloride batteries that can be charged from empty to full in eight hours, can reach speeds of 50 mph and have a range of 100 miles. That is more than adequate for the urban areas in which they will operate. The cost per mile for the electricity is expected to run around 7 pence. One other environmental feature of note are the recyclable, ultralight body panels manufactured by Omnia. These reduce the body weight as well as increase the payload capacity to 2,000kg . Hit the "read" link below to go to the detail replete announcement by TNT.


[Source: Smith EV / TNT]

Recently we broke a story about a new electric "highway capable" three-wheeled car being prepared for the American market called the Triac. We promised to keep you posted and now that some interesting new details have emerged, behold the posting.

Apparently, many of you out there contacted Green Vehicles to seek out more information about the Triac for yourselves. It seems they might have been a little overwhelmed and it took a few days before a response was sent out en masse. The missive contained lots of interesting information which I will now share with you.

First of all, there were a couple of items from the video that were corrected. In the clip it states that the top speed of the vehicle is 70 mph. This is wrong. Green Vehicles is claiming that it can actually reach 80 mph. That's a speed that can come in handy when you're passing on the highway. The other metric to undergo revision was the range. This was lowered from 120 to 100 miles with the further explanation that the original figure was achieved at a relatively slow speed and that the new result was returned from a speed of 45 mph. Other Triac facts we learned were about the drivetrain. It will have a 5-speed transmission (we're guessing manual) matched to a 20kW AC motor with "one of the world's most sophisticated battery maintenance systems" to help you get the most out of your lithium ion battery pack. It's onboard charger will allow you to plug it in to either a 120V or 240V outlet. Now, what was that about a truck? Hit the jump for more news.

I am not entirely sure, but I think that the yellow truck converted by students at Stanly Community College from gas to electric is a Dodge Ram 50, which was made by Mitsubishi and was replaced by the Dakota. The Ram 50 was a small truck which was powered by a four-cylinder engine. Not this one, though, because the gas engine was yanked out in favor of an electric motor. Not only that, but solar power has been added as a backup charger. Additionally, the vehicle can be plugged into any standard outlet for recharging. From what I can tell in the article, the vehicle not only has lead-acid batteries but seems to have some sort of capacitor storage too. Capacitors are like batteries, but they do not rely on chemicals for their energy storage and can usually deliver a good jolt of power when necessary.

This happens to be the third truck that Stanly Community College has converted to electric. The other two were a Chevy S10 and a Ford Ranger. Trucks are often chosen for electric conversions because their open bed makes a good spot to store the batteries. Unfortunately, they are usually heavier than small cars and are not very aerodynamic. This particular conversion can reach up to 90 miles per hour and can go for 70 miles on a full charge. The tally for the vehicles comes to $9,500. That's not too bad considering that they'll never need to fill 'er up with gas!

[Source: The Snap Online]

Two commercial EVs will start rolling in Rotterdam (Netherlands) shortly. Ivo Opstelten, the mayor of the city and president of the City's Climate Initiative, and Peter Baker, president of courier company TNT, have introduced two electric freight vans from Smith Electric Vehicles. The two vans are the first left-hand drive vans Smith EV have ever produced and the first on the Continent.

The two models are the Smith Edison EV (which is based on the Ford Transit van) 3.5 tons and the Smith Newton 9 tons truck. The first is capable of a top speed of up to 50mph, a payload of up to 1338kg (about 3000 lb) and a range on one battery charge of up to 150 miles from its 90 kW (120 HP) motor. The latter is based on an AVIA D-Line regular truck (the base wss not specified but it looks to me like a Mitsubishi Canter), and the specs are quite interesting: 130 miles of range and a payload of 3,400 kg (about 7500 pounds) obtained from a 120 kW (160 HP) electric motor and Zebra Z5 Sodium Nickel Chloride cells. It can be charged either at a regular house electric mains or an industrial 415V three phase.

The two vehicles will contribute to the city plans on reducing a 50 percent of CO2 emissions compared to 1990 levels.

Related:

• Meet the MODEC: Electric Delivery Van
• Review: How about a test-drive in a new Xebra PK?

[Thanks to David for the tip - Link is in dutch]

[Edited: Thanks to Mark for the tip on the company name and to Andy for helping me identifying the base truck]

I was just going in for some routine maintenance on my car, when I saw a line of scooters in front of the lobby of Jessup's Automotive in LaGrange Park, IL, the mechanic my family has been going to for seven years. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the Zap! logo and remembered that these guys were now a dealer for Zap!'s products. Containing my excitement and curiosity, I went in and got started with what I came there to do, then off-handedly asked how the interest in the Zap!s was going.

Apparently, very well. Jeff Jeffries said they have had a lot of people come in and check them out, and in fact, there was a woman out for a test drive right then. He then offered me my own, an offer I couldn't turn down, whether being a shade of green or not.

Continued after the jump.

A market exists for small vehicles that are easily transported and have zero emissions, making them suitable for indoor use and for use in heavily congested areas. Malls, large business complexes and even large family dwellings could use a vehicle like this. Kronosport is helping to fill that niche market with their fully electric Taxi, Van and Truk models. The vehicles are primarily electric, but can also be powered by pedaling. That's right, get some exercise and benefit yourself while you ease your impact on the environment. There are even people who use vehicles like this for delivery tasks, such as for delivering pizza or on college campuses. Could you use a vehicle like this? If so, click here to get in contact!

[Source: Kronosport]

Don't think that I didn't drill the on-site ZAP representative for any information about the ZAP\Lotus APX collaboration, but, alas, he knew nothing. Is it just vapor-ware? The jury is still out on that one, hopefully more information will be coming in the next few months. Not all was lost, however, as I did come away with a gallery of high-quality images of ZAP's current production models. As you may know, they already have a series of three-wheeled vehicles for sale, including a four-door, a truck and a little Segway-like scooter. I took pictures of them and you can see them in all their electric-only glory here.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), the group responsible for bringing hydrogen Prius hybrids to California, kicks off the Southern California Clean Vehicle Technology Expo today. The two-day event is a chance for transportation and fleet decision makers (people like purchasing directors, maintenance managers, county fleet supervisors and mayors) to get a first-hand view of gas that run on more than standard gasoline. These are cars that many of us wouldn't consider buying: garbage trucks, school buses and street sweepers. Aside from the vehicles, attendees will have a chance to learn about funding sources and rules for green fleets. The expo is attempting to clean up the air in California's South Coast region, where there are 11 million vehicles.

AutoblogGreen readers, if we could all go, would likely be more entranced by the Ride & Drive in the new BMW hydrogen 7 series, an electric pickup from Boshart Engineering and a fuel cell vehicle from Honda.

Related:

• Hydrogen hybrid Prius cars arrive in Golden State

[Source: South Coast Air Quality Management District]